Winter Rose
by Mika-the-Shadowbeast
Summary: When an Elemental Master dies without leaving an heir, the powers will transfer to the next available candidate. Rose was a normal young woman until the Master of Ice gave his life to save Ninjago from a great evil. This fic was co-authored by my sister, CreativeSkull.
1. Chapter 1

"So, did you see the meteors last night?" Rose asked, digging into the freezer. She grinned as she grabbed a carton of vanilla ice-cream.

"No. The damn city is too bright. I wouldn't have seen them, even if they were right outside my window!" The reply came, slightly fuzzy over the line. They've been having problems with the phone-lines in New Ninjago City recently. Ever since the Overlord had been defeated for the second time, nothing had been quite right. At least the call wasn't dropping this time.

"Didn't I tell you to come back for them? You even missed the festival!" She said, grabbing a spoon and plopping down at the table. She opened the carton and dug out a large spoonful of the treat.

"I told you I couldn't! I had to work on my painting for my final! It's wroth a lot of my grade!"

"Alright, alright. Just don't have a 'stroke' over it."

Rose pulled the phone as her friend screams into the speaker. She waited until she heard silence before putting it back to her ear.

"You done?"

"Yes."

"..." She dragged the spoon through her frozen treat, chopping it up so she could get at it better. There's a moment of silence, and just when Rose is starting to think the call really did drop again, her friend speaks.

"Do you still have that weird cold?"

"Yes! I don't get it, it's practically summer, and I'm over here freezing to death! We never should have gone to that memorial." She dropped her spoon and put her head in her hand. "I know Gramps liked Zane, but we really didn't need to go."

"You did visit me afterwards. And the flu was going around at the time, so maybe you just caught it here?" Rose can't see it, but she knows Hailey is shrugging by the tone of her voice.

"Eh, I don't know. I haven't really been sick, just very cold." Rose scooped more ice-cream into her mouth, shivering as she did. The heat had been turned up, but so far the only effect was that her snack was melting faster.

"Hey Rose?"

"Yeah?" She mumbled around the spoon as she took another mouthful.

"Are you eating ice-cream out of the carton again?"

"..." She swallowed, and stayed silent, hoping not to give it away. Yeah, eating a cold treat while perpetually cold yourself wasn't the greatest idea, but it was just so good. She couldn't help it.

"Rose?"

"I need to go, I have an early shift tomorrow." Avoiding the question always worked, right?

"I'm sure. But I should probably go too, got class after all. See ya around Rosie."

"Have a good one, Breeze."

And with that, the two girls disconnected, and Rose pushed away the ice-cream. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore. After a few moments of staring at the ice-cream melt, she cleaned up the kitchen and went off to bed, hoping she would feel better in the morning.

* * *

Unfortunately, Rose did not feel better the next day. And she had work, which was just fantastic in her book. And then when she got there, she found out she had to pull a double to cover for a coworker who had the chicken-pox. Rose wasn't sure how he got the chicken-pox, of course, but assumed it was through his younger sibling.

Most of the day passed by as normal. There were shelves to restock, cranky customers, stupid customers, and bratty kids. No, it was what happened at the end of the day that threw everything off for Rose.

See, being one of the only two gas-stations in the Jamanakai Village made them a prime target for petty thievery. While they mostly just had shoplifters(teenagers who thought they were being cool and edgy), at least once a month someone would come in and demand whatever was in the register. Some would want what was in the safe as well, but as that was on a timer they would more often then not take what they could get and leave before the cops showed up.

But sometimes, like tonight for instance, they would rather wait it out.

And that's where Rose found herself this time, standing next to the counter with Kyle as two men pointed guns at them. The sixteen year old boy shook like leaf as he stared at the gun pointed at him. The manager was in the office with one of the robbers waiting on the safe, as the thieves had lucked out and managed to come in not long before it was set to unlock.

At least the place was empty when they came in. It was always harder when there were customers about. Especially when someone wanted to try and play the hero.

"I wanna shoot the kid." Rose looked over to the 'extra' robber, who wasn't pointing his gun. He was unusually short, and couldn't seem to focus on anything. He also looked rather jittery, as his hand kept twitching towards his holster where the gun was.

"Why?" Asked the guy in front of her, glancing back at his comrade. The girl didn't need his full attention anyway, he reasoned. She was behaving, even looking a little bit bored.

"Because. I want to shoot something. I never get to!" Shorty exclaimed, drawing out his gun. Instantly the other two gunmen were facing him, hands up in an calming sort of way. Rose took the moment to push the panic button, in case things got worse.

"Um, how about, how about we don't shoot the kid?" Kyle mumbled, looking like he was about ready to pee himself. His hands shot up as Shorty pointed the gun right between his eyes.

"Uh, how about we do!" _Oh this is bad._ Rose thought, looking around for something, anything to distract the guy. The other two look about ready to tackle him, holding back only because he might still hit the kid.

"No, Greg! C'mon man, we talked about this!" One of the gunmen takes a step towards him, and that's all it takes.

Shorty, Greg, points his gun at Kyle. Rose is close enough, she can push it away. She jumped for it, reaching for it while hoping she'd be fast enough. What happened next is simultaneously a blur and crystal clear to Rose.

Burning cold runs down her arm and into her hand. Kyle drops to the floor as the gun fires, crying in fear. Greg starts screaming about ninja and ghosts. The other robbers start falling over each other, racing. The manager and last robber run out of the office, as they go.

The manager stopped and looked at the scene before her as the last robber leaps over the counter and sprints out the door, dropping the money as he does. Kyle is curled up behind the counter. The short, crazy looking robber is frozen to the floor and screaming his head off. And Rose is standing there, looking confused as the frost melts off her hand.

They all jump as sirens sound in the distance, signaling the arrival of the police.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose woke up on a train.

At first, she didn't remember why she was there, or even when she got on. But as she sat upright and stretched after a night spent curled in her seat, the memory of last night came rushing back.

The station was robbed. Or at least, there was an attempt, one that she had stopped entirely by accident, too. By _freezing_ one of them! And afterwards, she just left work and got on a train headed straight for New Ninjago City.

She didn't even go home and change first. She just left as soon as her manager and the police had given the O.K.!

' _Mom is going to be so peeved when she finds out._ ' Rose thought, staring out the window at the darkened scenery rushing by. ' _Hopefully she'll let me explain before she starts assigning chores._ '

She passed the time by continuously frosting the window with her hands. It was weird, especially since it melted quickly in the pre-Summer heat whenever she took her hand away. And, of course, it was cold. But, she noticed, whenever she used the ice, she felt less cold herself.

When the train pulled up to the station some hours later, the sun was close to rising. Rose disembarked and pulled her hood up, heading for the vending machines and buying two candy bars and an energy drink. She then took a map as she left the station, opening it up as she chewed on her candy. She looked it over, then turned down street and started walking.

* * *

She could only hope that Hailey wouldn't mind being woken up so early in the morning.

Hailey was NOT a light sleeper, not by any stretch of the word. Many a time had she fallen asleep at a friend's house or in public, only to be abandoned where she lay when no on could wake her. But when a loud, frantic knocking dragged her out of peaceful sleep, she rushed to the door in a half-asleep haze, thinking she'd slept through the fire alarm again.

However when she yanked the door open to run, heedless of the fact she wasn't wearing pants, she found herself crushed beneath a short, heavy, and familiar weight. With a grunt Hailey pushed the intruder off, and kicked the door closed, not getting up off the floor.

After a brief pause, Hailey spoke up. "So," she started, "why are you in my dorm room at..." She sat up and turned to look at her alarm clock. "5:13 in the morning?"

"Funny story, that." Rose said, also sitting up from where she'd bee shoved. " I think we may have a problem. "

"What do mean, 'we'?" Hailey asked, taking the desk chair. "Did you finally kill Jak? Because if so, I am NOT helping you hide the body." Hailey pushed herself off the floor and went to grab a glass of water. "I broke up with the guy who could do that before I moved here."

"What? No, I didn't kill Jak! Not yet, anyways." Rose muttered the last bit, then took a deep breath. She paused, and let it out in a long sigh. "This, is gonna be hard to explain. Let me have your water for a second."

Hailey handed over her water without the usual fight, if only because she wanted to see what Rose would do. ' _Although if this ends with a mess,_ ' she promised herself, ' _I'm going to kick her out._ '

Rose held the water with both hands, took a deep breath, and then froze it, glass and all. When she finished she looked up to find Hailey staring down at her with wide eyes.

"Well," she said, sitting down at her desk, "that's new. Do you know _why_ you can do that now?

Rose shook her head and put the chunk of ice on the floor. "No. It just started, tonight- uh, last night. I thought maybe you could help, so I came here." She leaned back on her hands, staring up at her friend.

"Wait, you started freezing things, so you came all the way out here, at ass o' clock in the morning, just to wake me up so I could help you?" Hailey picks up Rose's mess and sets it in the sink. "Gods, it's like those middle school book reports all over again."

"No! I started freezing people, and then came out here to wake you up." Rose said with a huff. "And besides, I really did need help with those reports. Writing is hard."

"Hold on, back up." Hailey turned around with and fixed Rose with a Look. "What do you mean by 'freezing people'?"

And so Rose tells Hailey everything that happened last night. From the attempted robbery, to Crazy Greg, to the ice she froze him to the floor with. She then moves on to how she immediately went to the train station after being dismissed by the police. By the time she's done, the sun has fully risen, and it's time for Hailey to start getting ready for class.

"Listen, I've got to get to class." Hailey told her, as she collected fresh clothing for the day. "Why don't you take a nap or something while I'm gone? We'll work this out when I get back."

Rose's only response is to flop on the bed and wave.

"The shower is down the hall on the left, and there should be something that'll fit you in the dresser." Hailey waited for a response, which was just a grunt and thumbs-up, before turning to leave. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Rose grunted again, and Hailey left the room, making sure to lock the door behind her. No need to have someone finding her before she can explain, after all.

By the time Hailey came back from class, Rose had showered and gotten dressed, although she didn't look any less tired than earlier. Hailey luckily didn't have any afternoon classes, not that she'd be able to focus much anyways.

So she grabbed Rose and dragged her out of the room to a cafe close to the college, deciding that they should have lunch before trying to test Rose's powers. After all, you can't do anything on an empty stomach.

* * *

Lloyd normally wasn't the one who answered the phone. Usually, it was his mother who did that, in between her studies. However as he raised it to his ear and gave the greeting he had the feeling things were about to change.

"Hello, Garmadon and Borg Training and Research Facility. How may I help you?" He rattled off, hopeful that they weren't looking for him. It was why he'd left out the part that mentioned he lived there.

"Hello, I'm looking for Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja. Is he available?" The woman on the other end asked. Lloyd silently cursed, but answered anyways.

"Uh, yeah, you're talking to him. What do ya need?" ' _Please just say "talk to my kid and tell him to do his homework"._ ' Lloyd prayed futilely.

"I'm officer Briggs of the Jamanakai Police. We need you to come down to the station as soon as you can." Briggs cleared her throat. "There was a robbery yesterday that involved some... unusual circumstances. We need to talk to you right away."

Robbery? Unusual circumstances? ' _Oh great, it's another Ancient Evil, isn't it?_ ' The teen thought to himself. ' _The Overlord is back to steal everyone's cookies, or something._ '

"Unusual how?" Lloyd asks, shaking himself out of his thoughts. This was no time for jokes.

"Well, one of the robbers was frozen to the floor." Briggs seems a bit incredulous as she says that, as though she doesn't quite believe it herself. Lloyd however feels his heart stop.

"Frozen?" He asks, voice barely above a whisper. He almost drops the phone, but forces himself to hang on. Zane is dead, and it could just be someone invented a freeze-ray or something. It's not Zane it's not Zane it's not-

"Yes. Listen, when you get here, you can review the tapes, alright?" Lloyd can hear papers shuffling on the other end. "I think you'll find them... interesting."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'll be there in two hours." Lloyd doesn't wait for an answer before hanging up the phone. The second it's in it's cradle he leans against the wall, feeling almost like he just ran a marathon. He stayed like that for a minute, then took a deep breath and stood up, heading for the door. He had some tapes to review.

Lloyd actually makes it to the station in one hour and thirty minutes. He's greeted by Officer Briggs, an older woman with her hair tied back in a bun. She escorts him into a room where he watches the tapes in shock.

* * *

He was right about one thing. It's not Zane.

Instead, paused on the screen with her arm outstretched and shooting ice from her hand, is a young woman. She's short, but well built, with pale blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Who is she?" He asks, after staring at her for a while. She looks a little familiar, but the video is too blurry to really tell.

"Rosemary Julien. And, we don't know where she is right now. Someone said they saw her get on a train, but nobody has any idea where she went." Another officer, younger than Briggs, explained. He adjusted his glasses before continuing. "She does have family in town, though. They're already here and are being questioned. With any luck, they're have some idea about where she went."

Lloyd nodded, although he wasn't sure how much that could help. "Do you mind if I take a copy of the tape back to the Facility? My parents and uncle might know who she is."

"Of course Green Ninja." Lloyd sighed, though the officer either didn't notice or didn't care as he made a copy. He handed it off to Lloyd, who thanked him and left quickly.

Maybe his father would be able to shed some light on this.

* * *

Rose and Hailey find themselves watching T.V. in the student rec. room after a long afternoon of practice. Rose wasn't necessarily better with her powers, but she had managed to learn how NOT to freeze things. Thus she was able to eat her food without turning it into ramen-flavored ice-cream.

While they were watching their show, a cartoon Hailey liked about twins and a magic journal, it cut off right in the middle. While Hailey and a few other students gave cries of outrage and disappointment, as it switched to the news, although they quieted down when they saw a picture of Rose on the screen.

"Attention citizens of New Ninjago City, this is an announcement made at the request of the Green Ninja, Lloyd Garmadon." The voice sounded male. "He is requesting any information possible on the location of Rosemary Julien, age 19." Here a picture of Rose came on screen, stating her name and age underneath it, along with a phone number. Rose herself pulled her hood up and sank into the couch cushions. "If you have any information on her whereabouts, please call the number on the screen. This announcement will play once every hour until Miss Julien has been found. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled program."

The T.V. switched back to the cartoon as Rose leapt from her seat and took off running down the hall. Hailey followed her, though she made sure to grab their food before she left.

They made it to Hailey's room and lock the door behind them. "This is bad, this is really bad Hailey!" Rose said as she paced around the room. Hailey just sat on her bed and continued to eat. "How are you so dammed calm about this?!"

"Because," she answered between bites of ramen, "you're going to call that number."

"What? No I'm not! They're gonna arrest me or something!" Rose was full on panicking now. "Maybe if I leave now, I can go somewhere else. Like Ignacia, or Stixx. Those don't have a lot of people, right?" She grabbed at her hair. "Oh man, mom's so gonna kill me..."

"Rosie, you're not gonna get arrested. The Ninja don't have that authority. The police do, though. Which is why you've gotta call them." Hailey pointed her fork at her friend. "Or, I can call them. Whichever way works for you."

"You wouldn't dare!" Rose glares, but Hailey glares back.

"Bet me I won't. You think this bad for you? Imagine if they found out about me." Hailey sighed. "No, it's better to get this taken care of as soon as possible. It's less trouble that way."

"Can't I just go hide with your ex?" Rose asked as a last resort.

Hailey fixed her with a Look. "No." She tossed her her cellphone. "Now call the Ninja. I'll be right outside so you can have some privacy. I need to return these bowls, anyways."

Hailey got up and left the room, closing the door behind her. Rose stared after her, then turned towards the window. After making sure she wouldn't survive the jump, she sat on the bed and stared at the phone. This was quite possibly the hardest call she would ever make since she asked Hank out in middle school.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N;**

Hey everyone, thank you all so much for all the nice comments! I'm so happy you guys are enjoying the fic so far. :D

* * *

'This is my one chance to get them back together. Please say yes! Then they're all come back. I know they will!'

It had taken three energy drinks, thirty minutes, and a cup of espresso before Rose had gathered the courage to call the number. However her courage had failed her after that, and she'd told the woman on the other end of the line that she knew where Rose was going to be. Hailey had been there during the call, and glared at Rose when she'd said that, but it was already done. All she could do at that point was make sure her friend would be where she'd said.

Which is how Rose found herself sitting at the base of the Titanium Ninja at eleven at night. Hailey was nearby, hiding in her truck while talking to Rose a walkie-talkie. Rose wasn't sure why they couldn't just use their Borg-Phones instead, but Hailey was insistent.

The walkie-talkie gave a burst of static, startling Rose into almost dropping it as Hailey's voice came through.

"Any sign of them yet? Over." She asked, voice crackling into near unintelligible noise. Rose gave a huff and pressed the button.

"No! And don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Rose took a deep breath, trying to get her breathing under control. "And why can't we use our phones, anyways? It'd be easier than these... relics."

"Because it's cooler like this!" Rose rolled her eyes. 'Of course. Hailey was always one for rule of cool.' "Also, you forgot to say 'over'. Over."

"I am not saying 'over'. That's stupid and childish." Rose was many things, but childish was not one of them. She did have some dignity, after all.

"No it's not. Over."

"Yes it is."

"You forgot to say 'over' again. Over."

Rose lifted the device to once again tell her friend she was not going to say "over", when a sudden noise caught her attention. "Quiet, I think I heard something."

Rose lowered the walkie-talkie, covering it with her hoodie to muffle any noises it might make. She stood up and slowly looked around, ready to try and freeze anyone who showed up, ninja or not. She heard another noise and spun around in time to see a cat walking out from behind the statue. Rose sighed and relaxed slightly, lowering her hand. 'Thank goodness...'

She really should have just skipped town, now that she thought about it. She could have laid low for a few months, and then gone back home when this had blown over. Maybe she still could, since Hailey wasn't even watching. Just walk away, take a train to Ignacia or some place equally remote, and pretend like this had never happened.

As she pondered making her escape, she spotted something in the corner of her eye. However before she could turn and take a better look, her vision was filled with green.

When asked later, Rose would deny the god-awful screech she'd let loose. She would also deny the graceless jump back which had ended with her sprawled on the ground and her energy drink knocked over. If Hailey was asked, however, she would show you the video and offer to email you a copy.

"Uh, hi?" There was an awkward pause, and Rose wished she'd gone anywhere else but to Hailey. When they were done here, she was going to freeze something. Maybe her bed, or her microwave...

"So, you're Rose Julien?" The guy asked. He was wearing a green ninja outfit that had gold detailing on it, and had green eyes and blond hair. It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was, as his face had been all over Ninjago just a few weeks ago.

"Last time I checked, I was." God, she hoped that didn't sound rude or anything. The Green Ninja extended a hand and she took it, grateful as he helped her stand back up. She brushed herself off sheepishly, and knew that never in a million years could she recover from that.

"Uh, I kind of have some questions for you." Lloyd started, not quite knowing how to do this. But he figured it'd be good to start with the basics. "Do you wanna come back to the station with me so we can work this out?"

'Oh God, Hailey was wrong! I'm getting arrested!' Rose swallowed her fear and glanced towards the truck. When she saw no help was going to come, she tried to defuse the situation herself.

"I'm good here, actually. Mom always said not to wander off with strangers, y'know? Heh heh... eeeeh." She trailed off as Lloyd looked at her oddly, realizing how stupid that was. 'This is why I always leave Hailey to do the talking.' "Speaking of mom, I really should be going now. Places to go, people to see, and all that." She turned to leave intending to go around to the truck when he'd left. Then she could smack Hailey for not helping her.

"Wait!" Lloyd maneuvered smoothly in front of her and blocked her escape. "We really need to talk about this. Do you even know how big this is, you being the Master of Ice?" He had trouble keeping his excitement in check and being professional.

"Uh..." Rose hadn't expected this. Lloyd almost looked like a kid who's favorite toy was going to be taken away, from the panic showing on his face.

"Please, just... stay and talk! You don't even have to answer any questions or anything. Just stay, please!"

Rose sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "Look, I really do need go. My friend's waiting for me." 'I think. For all I know, she fled the second he showed up.'

"That's okay! We can meet up tomorrow!" Lloyd quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Here! We can meet up here tomorrow for lunch, and talk more then. Just, please give it a chance, okay?"

Rose stared at him, and then looked the paper. On it was the name and address of a restaurant she'd never heard of. She shifted her gaze back up and saw a look of desperation on the Green Ninja's face. It was like she was about to decide the fate of his family or something.

She sighed, putting the paper in her pocket. "Fine, I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow. But I'm not going to the station. I don't think my mother could survive me getting arrested again."

"Thank you!" She could hear the gratitude in his voice, and wondered just what she'd gotten herself into. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said as she reached down to pick up her hoodie.

"Yeah, whatever. See you tomor-" she paused as she stood up, not seeing the boy anywhere. "-row." She finished lamely as she picked the rest of things up. She walked over to the truck and knocked on the window, watching as Hailey's dark hair made an appearance before she rolled down the window.

"Wow, that was tense." She said casually, as though it was just a show she'd been watching. "So, what did he want?"

Rose stared at her friend, and then with a blinding speed threw the rest of her energy drink in her face. She grinned as Hailey sputtered and glared, moving around the front of the truck to sit in the passenger seat. As soon as she got in Hailey had grabbed her hoodie and used it to wipe her face.

"Thanks for that." She said sourly as she started the truck. She pulled out of her parking spot and started down the road.

"Thanks for the help." Rose shot back as she snatched her hoodie. She looked at it in disgust, and threw on the floor. She'd deal with it later, right now, she had to figure out how to handle lunch with the Green Ninja.

And so the next day, shortly before noon, Rose found herself sitting at a table in WacDaniel's. She'd never been in one before, but it seemed to be a fast food restaurant with really good fries. She made a note to come here again before heading back to Jamanakai.

She wasn't sure when exactly Lloyd would be there, so she'd come somewhat early and ordered some food. She'd also brought Hailey, who was sitting a few tables over and would be out of sight of the Green Ninja when he arrived.

Rose had also managed to convince her to ditch the walkie-talkies, though it took a lot of talking. Instead they were texting, much to her relief.

Speaking of, her phone buzzed from it's place on the table, jolting her out of her thoughts. She quickly pulled it over to her and checked, seeing a text from Hailey that simply said I see them, get ready.

Rose sent a quick ok back and set her phone on her seat next to her. She took a deep breath and released it just as the door opened. She turned to look, as did the other customers, as Lloyd entered the seating area with an older man. He scanned the area and then pointed her out and waved. Rose gave a small wave back and glanced over to Hailey.

Hailey was staring very intently at the large magazine she'd brought along, but Rose saw her lower it for just a second when Lloyd and the old man sat down. It was quickly put back up, though, and Rose was forced to turn her attention to the two seated across from her.

They were definitely related, Rose could tell that much. She guessed that the older man was probably an uncle, or maybe Lloyd's grandfather. She didn't have long to dwell on it though, as Lloyd had started talking.

"Thank you so much for coming!" Lloyd gave a relieved sigh as he set his tray of food on the table. "You have no idea what this means to me."

'Oh man, he sounds so sincere.' "Well, you did sound pretty desperate. Also, I've never been one to say no to free food." She grinned as she popped a few more fries in her mouth. The older man grimaced, and she noticed he didn't have a tray of food. 'Huh. Must not be a fan of this place...'

Lloyd grinned back and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the man clearing his throat. He gave the younger a pointed look, and Lloyd seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Oh right. Dad, this is Rose Julien. Rose, this is my dad, Lo-, uh, Sensei Garmadon." The man, Garmadon, gave her a gentle smile and Rose choked on her food. That was Lord Garmadon. Lord Garmadon! Rose took a sip of her soda in a last ditch effort to save herself from asphyxiation by fry.

"I thought you died two years ago." She choked out. Garmadon just chuckled while Lloyd breathed another sigh of relief and picked back up his burger.

"Yes, well fortunately that wasn't the case. And I have my son to thank for that." He glanced towards him and frowned. "Are you sure you couldn't have chosen a better place to have this meeting?"

"Mfwhaph?" The Green Ninja asked around a mouthful of food. He swallowed it and let out a quick "This place is good!" before taking another large bite. Garmadon sighed and turned back to Rose, who had decided she was done eating for the day.

"But, back to the point, do you mind telling us how you got your powers?" He folded his hands on the table and somehow sat up straighter, looking at Rose with a critical eye. It reminded her of her counselor back in high school.

"Uh, well..." Rose glanced over to Hailey, who gave her a "go on" gesture. "They just sorta, y'know, appeared." She gave a helpless shrug while Garmadon raised an eyebrow and Lloyd swallowed his food.

"What do you mean, 'just appeared'?" He asked, looking skeptical. "Powers don't just appear, do they?" He glanced at his father, but Garmadon looked to be deep in thought.

"Well, I did start feeling really cold not long after the, uh, thing six months ago." She rubbed the back of her head and winced when she saw the boy's face fall. She hadn't meant to make him upset. "Sorry."

"I-it's fine. Let's just focus on this." He mumbled as he took another bite of his burger. He chewed slower now, like he was thinking about something, and Rose turned her attention back to Garmadon.

"Has anyone else in your family had powers like this?" He asked, fixing her with a critical eye. Rose shook her head.

"No, I don't think so. My grandpa would have mentioned it, if only to complain about it. He does that a lot." She took a sip of her soda, trying not to glance at Hailey too much. So far they hadn't seemed to notice, but that could change if she put too much attention on her friend.

"What about friends?" Rose almost swore. She was also sure she heard a record scratch as she tightened her grip on her glass.

"I... don't have many friends." She managed to get out. "And the ones I do have, never showed this kind of power." She looked down at her soda, and saw that it was frozen solid. She upended the glass and dumped the colored ice onto the table.

The three of them stared at it until Garmadon cleared his throat. "Well, I think that answers the question on whether your powers are real or not." He said before giving a sigh. "Lloyd, I'm going outside for a moment. Why don't you tell her about the idea you had last night?" He didn't wait for an answer before he got up from the table, leaving the building rather quickly.

"Oh, yeah." Lloyd looked excited now, earlier sadness forgotten. "I wanted to know if you wanted to train with me. Er," he cleared his throat, "I'd actually be training you, along with dad and Uncle Wu. But it will be a lot of fun, trust me."

'He looks so happy. I want to do this, but...' Rose glanced over at Hailey, who was nodding her head very enthusiastically. She glanced between the two, before finally sighing. "Alright, I'll come train with you."

Lloyd looked like a kid in a candy store. "That's great!" He half-shouted. "Come on, let's go pay, and I'll show you our training area. It's not much yet, but it'll get better I promise." Rose barely had time to grab her phone before Lloyd was pulling her out of her seat and towards the door.

Before they left, though, she chanced one more look back towards Hailey. From the brief glance she managed, she saw Hailey giving her a thumbs-up. She managed a quick smile back before being pulled out of the restaurant by Lloyd and towards his father.

Still, Rose couldn't help but feel as though she'd made a horrible mistake. As though everything after this moment would go horribly wrong and the city would burn for the fourth time in a single generation.

Maybe she shouldn't have said yes.

Nah, there's nothing to worry about. After all, the Green Ninja's here. What could possibly go wrong?


	4. Chapter 4

When asked what a secret ninja hideout would be, Rose would have said a cave, hidden carefully behind a waterfall deep in the jungle. Or perhaps a monastery, also in the jungle. Basically, Rose expected the hideout to be in the jungle somewhere.

Therefore she was quite surprised when Lloyd instead drove into the center of the city and into a parking garage. For a moment Rose thought it might be a joke, but when Lloyd parked in a spot that said, quite clearly, "Reserved", she decided to reassess her expectations.

She followed the Garmadons into the building and then into an elevator. It was the most awkward thing any of them had ever experienced. Especially when the music spontaneously died halfway up. Nobody was looking at each other, while trying not to be obvious that they weren't looking. Thus it was no surprise that, when they finally reached their floor, Lloyd and Rose were both trying to leave before the doors had fully opened.

Sensei Garmadon gave a small smile as he watched the two practically throw themselves out of the elevator. He followed them out at a more sedate pace, while Lloyd led Rose down the hall to their training room.

"So, this whole floor is ours." Lloyd told her. "And this over here, is our training room." He opened the door with a flourish, though it was somewhat lost when the door gave a mechanical grinding noise and got stuck halfway open. He gave it a quick smack and it slid the rest of the way.

Rose peered into the room. It was clean, that was for sure, with the same almost sterile look that the hallway had. There were a few basic wooden dummies scattered around, and a large, worn, blue tumbler's mat in the middle of the floor.

"Looks, uh, pretty bare actually." She said as she stepped into the room. Lloyd gave her a sheepish grin, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I don't really use this one much. There's a much cooler simulation room downstairs. But you're just a beginner, so we have to start you off in here." He gave an apologetic shrug, and moved over to the mat, taking off his shoes before stepping onto it.

Rose followed, kicking off her own shoes and standing across from him. Garmadon stood to the side, keeping a close eye on things so he could intervene if needed. He didn't think he would though, as Lloyd shifted into a more defensive stance.

"Now, come at me with everything you've got." He told her.

Rose gave him an unsure look, quickly glancing towards Garmadon. "Uh, are you sure about that?"

Lloyd nodded and braced himself. So, against her better judgement, Rose threw herself at him full force.

Now, something to note about Rose, is that she was a kickboxing champion. She'd even competed in the Ninjago Juniors Jade Cup and gotten fourth place. She was considered the best in her town, and one of the best in the country when she was younger.

Something else to note about Rose: It had been at least five years since the last time she did any kickboxing.

Thus, while she had confidence born of being told she was great, her form had gotten somewhat rusty and the kick she'd aimed at Lloyd's side was sloppy. So it was no wonder that Lloyd, who had been training near constantly recently, was able to catch her foot and flip her.

She landed, but not without stumbling heavily. She didn't so much as stop for breath before she turned back around and charged straight at the Green Ninja. However Lloyd just stepped to the side and stuck his foot out, tripping her, before catching her arm and flipping her again. This time she ended up on her back on the mat, with Lloyd pinning her down.

Rose groaned as Lloyd helped her up into a sitting position. "I think my spleen just exploded." She wheezed. "How'd I do?"

"Eh, not bad." He said. "But not too good, either. We've got a lot of work to do if you're going to fight with us."

Rose wheezed again, but nodded. When she'd finally caught her breath Lloyd helped her stand back up. As they stood, Rose spotted a much older man standing next to Garmadon. He had a long white beard, and a hat similar to what Hailey's uncle would wear.

"Sensei Wu!" Lloyd's face lit up when he saw him, and he dragged Rose over to the two men. "This is Rose. She's the new Elemental Master of Ice."

"Uh, hi?" Rose gave a small wave, still sore from the "fight". Yeah, she was definitely feeling all of that in the morning.

"Hm..." Wu looked her over, and she got the feeling he was searching for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to find it as he gave her a slight nod before turning and walking out of the room.

"Uh." Was all Rose had to said to that. She felt really sorry for Lloyd though. If that was really his uncle, than between him and Garmadon, the men in that family seemed to get old fast. She hoped he took after his mother's side of the family more than his father's.

"Alright." Rose turned to look behind her, and saw that Lloyd had moved the wooden dummies into a line. "Now we've gotta test your powers."

The Ice "Master" let out a groan. "Do we have to? I just got my butt beat by the Green Ninja. I think I deserve a break." She thought for a moment. "Maybe we could go get some cake. Everybody loves cake."

Garmadon shook his head, although he seemed amused if the smile was anything to go by. Lloyd just huffed in annoyance. "We just had lunch half an hour ago. It's too early for a snack break. Besides," He spun one of the rotating segments of the dummy he was next to. "I want to see what you can do."

"Uh, okay I guess." Rose moved to the spot Lloyd indicated and, after he'd moved away, gathered her strength. She focused all of her power into her hands and shot them forward, releasing-

-a small, glittering cloud of frost that evaporated within a heartbeat.

Rose stared at the space the cloud had been, before her face turned red as an embarrassed rage overcame her.

"What?!" She shouted, before trying again. Unfortunately, the only result was more frost clouds and nothing more. "Why. Isn't. This. Working?!"

She stomped on the floor, which only made a larger cloud appear. She waved it away when Lloyd appeared and grabbed her hands, preventing her from trying again.

"Okay! That's... enough for today." He told her. She pulled her hands out of his with a snarl.

"No! I know I can do this! Let me try again!" She prepped to do just that, but was stopped by Lloyd grabbing her again.

"No, you can't. You're trying to hard." He let go and helped move her into a better position. "You have to relax. Now, try again."

Rose took a deep breath, letting the tension in her shoulders leave. ' _This time._ ' She raised a hand and focused again, leaving her body loose this time. She put all her energy into this and let loose-

-a somewhat larger frost cloud.

Lloyd clapped his hands together as Rose geared up for an explosion. "Okay! Time for cake. Right now. We actually have a kitchen here, and it's got cake in it. Let's go get some." He grabbed Rose by the hand and started to physically drag her out of the room. "We'll do some sparring after we eat some cake."

Rose was still upset, but allowed herself to be led to the kitchen/dining room area. She sat down at the table while Lloyd cut some small slices of cake for everyone. Garmadon leaned his staff against the wall and sat next to her. She ignored him and continued to sulk. ' _I don't know why I can't do it anymore. Maybe it was the WacDaniel's..._ '

"Don't feel too put out." Her head snapped up as Garmadon spoke. "You were actually doing quite well for your first time consciously using your powers."

Rose opened her mouth to protest that it wasn't her first time, when Lloyd put a small slice of cake in front of her. For a moment she was distracted by how fancy the plate and fork looked, but then forgot about them as she took a bite of cake. "Wow! This is really good!"

Lloyd nodded, his own mouth full of cake. He quickly swallowed to respond. "Yeah! My mom made it. You'll meet her later. I think she's at the museum right now?" He glanced at Garmadon who, Rose noticed, didn't have any cake. ' _Maybe he just hates food._ '

"The library, actually. She was researching... something." He glanced at Rose, though she pretended not to notice. "She'll be home in time for dinner, though."

"Well, tell her I liked the cake." She grinned enthusiastically, all frustration about her powers gone. "It's delicious!"

Lloyd nodded while Garmadon gave another amused smile. They were getting along quite well. It would be good for Lloyd, in his private opinion, to have a friend. Especially since the other ninja had retreated into themselves to avoid the pain of having lost their brother.

After their cake, they went back to the training room, where Lloyd showed Rose how to do a few basic moves and stances. As they trained, Garmadon slowly circled around them. Sometimes he'd correct them, or point out something that Lloyd had missed in his explanations. Mostly though, he had a proud look on his face as he watched.

Without even noticing, two hours had soon passed and Rose had to leave. Lloyd offered to drive her home, which she accepted, although she had him drop her off a few blocks away from the college. She wasn't sure how Hailey would react to the Green Ninja knowing where she lived.

The next couple of weeks repeated in much the same way. Go to Borg Tower, train, and then eat cake. And over time, Rose began to gain her skills back, as well as learn new ones from Lloyd, Garmadon, and even Wu sometimes.

The only dampener on the whole thing was the fact that she still couldn't get her powers to work in front of anyone but Hailey.

"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong." She complained to Hailey one night. "I can use them just fine here. Why can't I use them over there?"

"Sounds like performance anxiety to me." Hailey told her, not looking up away from her easel. She had a deadline coming up, and this painting was worth most of her grade. "It happens to the best of us."

"Uh, I'm talking about my powers. Not sex." Rose stood up, heading to the sink for some water. She learned long ago to not just drink the random glasses of water laying around the art room.

"Yeah, I know. And it could still be performance anxiety." Hailey started mixing in a new shade of green to her portrait. "My ex-boyfriend used to get it all the time when it came to-"

"Good Lord, shut up! I don't want to hear about your sex life!" Rose slammed her glass into the sink and stormed out of the room. Hailey watched her go before shrugging and turning back to her painting. She'd figure it out, one way or the other.

Unfortunately, Rose did not figure it out. Not even with Master Wu's help could they figure out why she was unable to use her powers around them. Eventually Rose gave up on it and took to practicing them alone. She still had her ever-growing ninja skills to help her out if needed.

However as the weeks went on, Rose came to a new problem.

"You're moving back home?!" Hailey looked up from her packing, dresses folded neatly in her suitcase.

"Yeah. School's out for the Summer. I have two days to move out, or they're gonna kick me out." She moved past Rose to her closet, grabbing a few more dresses to pack.

"But what about me? Where am I going to live?" Rose, on the other hand, was panicking. She hadn't thought far enough ahead, and now she had to pay the consequences. Which was going to be homelessness, apparently.

"I don't know. Can you get an apartment?" She asked, still more focused on her packing than her friend's problems. Rose scoffed.

"In New Ninjago City? Do I look like I'm made of money? Oh God, this is a disaster! I'm going to have to go back to Jamanakai with you. And just when we were getting to the good part of my training too." She ran her hands through her hair, trying desperately to think of something.

"Good part?" Hailey was confused. She thought the training itself was the good part.

"Yeah! They were gonna teach me Spinjitsu! Only not anymore, because I've got to move back home! Ugh!" She kicked a soda can from where it was resting by the bed. "This blows!"

Hailey sighed, picking up the can and throwing it in the trash. "Well, why don't you just ask the if you can stay in the tower. Didn't you say they had a whole floor to themselves? I'm sure they can spare a bedroom for you."

"No! No, I can't do that! That's Borg Tower! I can't live there, it's a rich people home!" She flopped heavily on one of the beds and threw her arms up towards the ceiling before letting them fall to her sides. "I wouldn't ever be able to afford the rent there in a million years!"

"Dude, you're friends with the _Green Ninja_! If anyone can help you out with this, it's him." Hailey sighed, tucking a strand of hair back into her hair bun. "Just ask him, okay. The worst he can do is say no."

Rose just groaned again, so Hailey went back to her packing. She felt bad that she couldn't help her friend, but there wasn't much she could do. The only money she had access to was her allowance. And even if she could use that, her grandfather would never approve of her spending it on Rose.

Rose, on the other hand, felt too proud to ask for help. For decades pride was all her family had really had, so they refused any aid offered to them. And, despite the fact that she really did want some help, she did not want to be the one to break that streak.

' _Still,_ ' She thought to herself one day after training. ' _maybe they know somewhere I can stay that's not the Tower._ '

"You've seem stressed lately, Rose." Garmadon spoke up as they had their cake and tea. "Has something happened?"

"A lot, honestly." Rose ran a hand through her hair, brushing it out of her eyes. "You know I've been staying with Hailey, at the art school, right?" At his nod, Rose continues. "Well, the term's over now, which means all the students are going home. Including Hailey."

"And you need a place to stay, right?" Lloyd piped up from his spot. Rose nodded.

"Yeah. I've been looking for an apartment, but everything in the city is just so expensive." She sighed. "Then again, I guess I haven't looked everywhere yet."

"Why not just come live with us. She can do that, right dad?" Lloyd looked towards his father, who nodded with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I don't see why not. I'll talk to Borg about it after dinner, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"And I'm sure Nya and Pixal would be happy to help set up a room for her." Lloyd added before turning to grin at Rose. "Don't worry, it'll be great!"

Rose realized they hadn't given her an opportunity to decline. She suddenly regretted saying anything about it. "Ha ha, yeah. I'm sure it will be."


	5. Chapter 5

It was the next day, and Rose and Hailey had just arrived at Borg Tower. Hailey had offered to drop Rose and her things off on the way back to Jamanakai, and she'd gratefully accepted.

"So, guess this is the last time I'll see you 'til school starts again, huh?" Rose said as they pulled into the parking garage.

"Yep." Hailey replied, checking the time on her phone. It wasn't long after lunch, but her family was expecting her home before dinner. So, unfortunately, this couldn't take long.

Rose stared at her for a moment, then pulled her friend into a hug. "Tell Mom and Gramps I said 'hi' when you see them next, okay?"

"Sure thing. And I'll text you when I get home, alright?"

Rose nodded and climbed out of the truck. She grabbed her two bags from the back, then waved as Hailey drove out of the parking garage.

Rose stared after her, hand lowering as her smile slowly left her face. ' _Well, this is it, then. Time to start my new life!_ ' And with that, she turned around-

-only to scream and drop her stuff when she saw Lloyd was right behind her.

"Why would you do that?!" She screeched when Lloyd laughed. She huffed in anger and bent to pick her bags back up. "And how long have you been standing there?"

"Just for a minute." He told her as he helped her grab her stuff. "I saw you guys on the security cameras, so I decided to come down and help."

"Oh." Now she felt bad about yelling at him. Still, he didn't seem to take it the wrong way as he led her to the elevator. They got on, and were silent the whole ride up.

When the elevator reached their floor, Lloyd led her down the hall, but turned down a different way than Rose normally went. He led her past a series of rooms, before stopping by a door with a white rose shape on it. He grinned at her before grabbing the doorknob and throwing it open. "And here we are! Room sweet room!"

Rose peered inside to see a mostly bare room, save for a bed and a dresser. One wall was taken up by a large picture window, while another had a second door on it that led to either a closet or a bathroom. The walls themselves were a light colored wood, while the floor was covered with a large tatami mat.

Lloyd cleared his throat. "Sorry there isn't much in here, but Nya said you'd want to decorate it yourself. The bathroom's fully stocked, though. Oh! But I did get you a really cool blanket for the bed."

"Thanks so much for this." Rose said, as she turned to look back at him. "I really appreciate it."

"Hey, it's no problem. This room was... going to be unused anyway." He told her, before clearing his throat again. "Well, I'll leave you to unpack. I'll come and get you when it's time for dinner." And with that, he hurried away.

Rose let out a breath, and took another look around the room. While it wasn't that big, the large window and light colors made the room seem airy.

Rose dropped her bags in the room and went to close the door, pausing when she noticed something. There, under the rose, looked like the faint outline of a snowflake that had been painted over.

Oh.

* * *

A couple of hours later, after Rose had unpacked her clothes and explored the bathroom, there was a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Lloyd, who was looking at his phone.

"Hey Lloyd." She greeted as she left the room, taking care to not look at the door again. Lloyd made a noise of acknowledgment as he led her to the dining room. After a few seconds he put up the phone and started talking.

"So, mom made fried chicken tonight. It's the best and I think you're really going to like it. And Nya made this thing where..." As Lloyd rambled about food, Rose dove into her thoughts.

So Misako was in today. Good, Rose had heard a lot about her, but they had yet to actually meet. Nya, on the other hand, she had only heard about in passing. Rose had heard that she had helped design quite a bit of the Garmadon part of the tower. But she had figured that she was just a lead engineer or something, and not someone she would get to actually meet, much less eat dinner with.

' _I hope she's nice._ ' Rose thought as they rounded the corner into the dinning room. It looked just like it did for lunch, only with two more places set, one to the right of Garmadon and one next to Rose's usual place. Only one new person was actually sitting at the table though, but Rose could hear someone in the kitchen.

"Nya, this is Rose. Rose, this is Nya." Lloyd wasted no time introducing the two before heading into the kitchen himself. Nya didn't so much as look up from the small engine looking thing in front of her, only giving a grunt to acknowledge she'd even heard anything.

Rose stood there for a moment, waiting to see if Nya would say anything. However the only sounds came from the kitchen, where Misako was placing the last touches on dinner. So Rose simply sat down and watched her work. Luckily, it didn't take long before Misako and Lloyd began to bring things out of the kitchen.

"Nya, put that away. It's dinner time." The older woman said as she placed a platter of chicken down. "Lloyd, go let your father know that dinner's on the table."

"Okay mom." Lloyd turned to leave, only to quickly turn back. "Oh, by the way, that's Rose. Rose this is my mom, Misako." And then he left.

"Hello, Rose." Misako smiled at her as she started to fill the plates. Rose quickly stood to help, but paused when she noticed something off.

"Uh, ma'am, I think we're missing a plate?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. My husband already ate earlier." Misako told her as they set the plates around.

"Oh" was all she said to that. 'He really must not like her cooking.' She thought, though she wouldn't dare say it out loud. She learned that lesson long ago.

Before long, the places were set and everyone was gathered round the table. Everyone started enjoying a lovely meal together as Garmadon sat there and watched them. If Rose wasn't already somewhat used to it, she would be a little creeped out.

"So, Rose," Misako began, "I have a few questions for you, about your family. If you don't mind."

"Not at all! What did you want to know?" Rose said, setting her fork down and focusing fully on the older women.

Misako debated for a moment. "Who's the oldest member of your family?" She finally asked, ignoring her son's embarrassed scowl.

"Oh, that would be Xander! He's my grandfather." Rose replied. "He's getting close to seventy, I think."

"What about his parents? Do you know who they were?" Misako looked especially interested now as she leaned forward a little.

Rose frowned a little bit. "Gramps said he was adopted when he was two. He never knew his birth parents." She shrugged. "Sorry."

Misako turned back to her food, clearly trying to hide her disappointment. "Oh. Well, thank you for answering the questions, Rose."

"Sure, no problem. Was there anything else you needed to know?" Rose asked, curious as to what this all was about.

"No, that was all." Misako said before returning to her own dinner.

The rest of dinner continued with quiet conversation, during which Rose learned that Nya was an engineer, though it seemed to be more of a hobby than a career. She also learned that the engine was for some sort of motorbike, though Nya refused to share more than that.

After dinner was finished, Rose decided to head off to bed. She hadn't done much that day, but moving itself was tiring. So she simply went to bed, not bothering with anything else.

Over the next week Rose worked on settling into a new routine. Every morning Lloyd would wake her up for sunrise exercises. Then they would eat breakfast, and train for the rest of the day with only a small break for lunch. After dinner would be a sort of free time, which the two of them quickly filled by bonding over video-games. Occasionally, Cyrus Borg would ask them to test a new product for him.

Rose also spent whatever time she had texting Hailey, although they were never able to talk for long due to their busy schedules. Still, they were able to keep up with each other, which made the whole thing go a lot smoother for Rose.

However one morning, Rose was woken up by Master Wu for the sunrise exercises. After she had yawned her way through them, she finally noticed that Lloyd wasn't around. So at breakfast, when she was awake enough to form coherent sentences, she decided to question this.

"Hey, Master Wu? Where'd Lloyd go?" She asked as she ate her eggs. They weren't as good as Misako's, but Rose thought she did well enough. She continued to shovel them in anyways while Wu calmly sipped his tea.

"Lloyd has decided that it is time for the other ninja to meet you." He told her. "He has gone to collect them."

"What?! He's bringing them here?! Today?!" Rose exclaimed, standing up from the table and nearly knocking over her glass. She quickly steadied it while Wu raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

"No." Wu informed her. "It will take a while to go and retrieve them all, so you'll be meeting them next week."

"Oh." She said quietly, as she sat back down. "I can't wait to meet them. From what Lloyd's said, they seem really cool."

Wu hummed in response, sipping his tea. Rose shot him a smile before turning back to her eggs, which she ate much slower this time. Suddenly, she didn't feel so enthusiastic anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

Lloyd and Rose had decided on WacDanniel's as the place to meet the other Ninja. It was getting close to time, so at the moment the two of them were sitting in a booth, a large plate of fries between them to share as they waited.

She was excited, if a bit nervous, to meet them. Lloyd had been talking non-stop since he came back from hunting them down. It was obvious that he couldn't wait to have them back together as a team, and was excited to introduce them to Rose.

However by the time they'd finished their plate, none of the Ninja were anywhere to be seen. Still, Lloyd wasn't disheartened, and simply went back up to the counter to order another plate and some soda.

As they ate their way through it, though, Rose started to get a sinking feeling. It seemed unfounded though when the door opened, and Kai walked in. Rose nudged Lloyd so he'd look, then quickly started to brush the fry crumbs off of her clothes. ' _No point looking like a mess when I meet him._ ' She thought as she wiped her mouth.

"Kai! Kai, over here!" Lloyd called as Rose cleaned herself up. He was smiling larger than she had ever seen him smile before, and for a moment she was hopeful that everything was going to go well.

The Red Ninja glanced at them, then started to weave his way through the tables to their booth. When he reached them, though, he didn't sit down, and instead stood next to their table. Rose tried to look at his face, but it was hidden in shadow thanks to the hoodie he wore.

Rose took a deep breath, then stood up and gave a formal introductory bow. "Hi, I'm Rose! It's nice to meet you. Lloyd's told so much about you guys." she said, then straightened back up and extended a hand as a more informal greeting. She didn't need to, of course, but Hailey had suggested it in case he wasn't the formal type.

Kai lifted his head a little and fixed her with a hard, unreadable look. It wasn't quite a glare, but it was cold enough to almost chill her to the bone. Slowly, Rose lowered her hand and sat back down, moving her gaze to the table.

"So, where are Cole and Jay? Are they on their way?" Lloyd asked, ignoring the tension in the air. He was determined to make this happen, one way or another.

"No. They aren't coming here, Lloyd." Kai told him, not looking away from Rose. Even though she couldn't see it, she could feel his gaze on her. "Who is she?"

"This is Rose. She's the new Master of Ice." The Green Ninja explained. "I've been training her for a while, and I thought that now would be a good time to get everyone back together so we could start training as a group. We need to be prepared for the next evil that attacks Ninjago, after all."

For several long moments, there was silence. Rose didn't dare look up again, and Lloyd was starting to get antsy just sitting. However as he opened his mouth to explain some more, Kai finally spoke.

"No." He said simply, and the turned to leave.

Lloyd stood up, mouth dropping open in shock and disbelief. "What?! But Kai-"

"I said no, Lloyd. We're not ninja anymore." He stopped and sighed, shoulder dropping from the tense state he'd had them in since he'd entered the restaurant. "Look, I don't know what kind of replacement you think you've found, and I don't want to know." He turned now, fixing Lloyd with another unreadable look. "But if you think that we were going to come back just for her, then you thought wrong Lloyd."

Lloyd, who had started to move to follow Kai, stopped then and stared at him with wide eyes. "You can't be serious! We're the Ninja! We're supposed to fight together!" Kai ignored him and left the restaurant. "Kai? KAI!" Lloyd ran out the door after him, barely stopping long enough to open the thing.

The street outside was empty, but Lloyd could still hear footsteps from above. With barely a pause he ran into the alleyway and wall-jumped to the roof. From there he could see Kai running along the rooftops and quickly gave chase. "Kai! Come back, please! We can work it out!"

"Give it a rest Lloyd!" He called back. "None of us are Ninja anymore! You're the only one left!" He took a running leap and jumped onto a bus as he came to a street corner. Lloyd tried to follow, but by the time he got there the bus had continued on down the road.

Lloyd stared after it, feeling a rising despair as he stood there. "Kai..." He wanted to scream, rage, and cry all at the same time. He wanted to destroy something with his powers, or chase Kai down anyways and hit and yell at him until he stopped being stubborn.

Most of all he wanted to find a way to back time so that the team never broke apart in the first place.

In the end he did none of those things. He simply stood there, staring after the bus and fighting back tears until Rose found him half an hour later.

* * *

Hours later, after helping Lloyd get home from where he'd been standing on some roof, Rose laid in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Though her curtains were drawn, the lights from the city still lit up her room. It reminded her of when she was younger and still needed a nightlight.

' _It would be better if I was still that young. Maybe then Kai wouldn't have rejected me like that._ ' She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, thinking back over what had happened. ' _Am I really just a replacement? Lloyd didn't act like I was, but..._ ' She sat up and ran her hands through her hair. ' _Aw man, this is so confusing! I don't want to just be a replacement for Zane!_ '

She sat on her bed for a moment, then threw the covers off and stood, making her way out the door and down the hall with a purpose. She wasn't good with this sort of thing, but she had to know if she really was just a replacement or not.

However as she approached his room, she took notice of an odd noise. Quietly coming up to the door, she pressed her ear against it. Her eyes widened as she recognized the sound of crying, with many unpleasant memories coming to her mind. So, she took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.

"Lloyd? It's me, Rose. Are you okay in there?" She asked gently. There was a thump, and then the door opened to show Lloyd, and Rose very nearly drew back because the poor kid looked _horrible_.

His eyes were red and puffy, and his nose had obviously just been wiped because she could see the evidence of it on his pajama sleeve. He still had tracks down his cheeks from where he'd been crying, and from where Rose was standing his pillow looked damp.

"Uh, are you... okay?" She asked again, feeling concerned. For a moment, it looked like the blond was going to try and suck it up and insist he was fine, so Rose looked him right in the eyes. It worked and he folded, eyes starting to water again as he sniffled.

"I just... I-I thought t-that if there was... I thought they'd come back." He sniffled again and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "I just wanted them... t-to come back... Why-why won't they come b-back..."

Rose watched him for a moment, then slowly reached her hand out to pat him on the shoulder. "Lloyd..." To her surprise, he completely bypassed that and just threw himself into a hug. After a moment of shock, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged back, wishing she knew where the ex-Ninja were hiding so she could go and freeze their faces off.

They stood like that for a long while, with Rose holding Lloyd while he cried into her night-shirt. Eventually though he pulled back, looking pretty embarrassed as he wiped his face with his sleeves.

"Sorry 'bout that..." He mumbled. Rose just crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.

"Dude, use a freaking tissue and change you shirt. That's gross." She deadpanned with the most Serious face she could. She was rewarded with a quick burst of laughter, which she smiled at as she pushed him lightly back into the room.

While Lloyd got cleaned up, Rose took the moment to look around his room. It was painted in green with a white carpet, but all of the furniture was black. Various weapons were scattered around in what was most likely an unsafe manner. The closet was opened, and inside it Rose could see several types of green gi, casual clothing, and a too small black hoodie with what looked like a cape attached. The bed had Fritz Donnegan sheets on, which made her smile a little.

"So, did you need you something?" Lloyd asked as he stepped back into the bedroom, face washed and with a new pajama shirt on. He still sounded kind of hoarse, but he looked a lot better than a few minutes ago.

"I just... I wanted to make sure you were okay. After what happened earlier..." She looked away, not wanting to bring up her true reason for coming here. It was clear Lloyd had enough problems, and she didn't want to add to them.

"Uh, yeah..." His face flushed and he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm uh, I'm feeling a lot better now, so there's no need to worry or anything. Just had to, y'know..."

Rose nodded, not wanting to cause him anymore embarrassment. She looked around for a moment, trying desperately to find another conversation topic, when her gaze landed on the sheets again. "I like your sheets. Fritz Donnegan , right?"

Lloyd started, having lapsed into his thoughts during the silence. "Uh, yeah. Jay got them for me a while back. Have you ever seen the show?" He looked almost hopeful, but Rose shook her head.

"Yeah, but I didn't like it. Hailey loved it though." Her eyes lit up, then. "Oh! Maybe next time I go visit my mom, I can bring you and you two can talk about it! Would that be okay?"

Lloyd nodded, looking excited. "That would be great! None of the others ever liked the show. Well, except for Jay. I think he's an even bigger fan than I am!" Lloyd sat down in his desk chair, while Rose did the same on the bed. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time he tried to use me to get free tickets?"

She shook her head, shocked. "He tried to use you for free tickets? Why?!"

"Because I was the Golden Ninja! I was always getting free stuff." He chuckled, leaning against the desk. "Oh, but he couldn't just ask me outright, though. He tried to butter me up first, even though I would've said yes anyways. So he made me some candy. Or at least, he _tried_ to..."

And so the two Ninja talked late into the night, until they had both pretty much collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion.

* * *

It had been over an hour since breakfast, and Nya was starting to get worried. Both Rose and Lloyd had not only missed sunrise exercises, but also breakfast. She knew that Rose sometimes slept in and missed the exercises, much to Lloyd's disappointment and frustration, but even she'd never missed breakfast before. And Lloyd himself had always mad it a point to be on time every morning no matter what.

Maybe it had something to do with what had happened last night? Nya knew something had to have happened, but all Rose had said was that "they said no". Lloyd hadn't said anything, and just gone straight to bed.

Either way, they were definitely not happy when they came home, and Nya was definitely not happy with Kai. But she could yell at her brother later. Right now, she had some Ninja to find and feed.

She checked Rose's room first, since logic dictated that the Ice Master would still be asleep. But while the bed had definitely been used last night, Rose wasn't in it. A quick check of the bathroom revealed she wasn't in there either. Now Nya was really starting to worry.

She half ran to Lloyd's room, yanking the door open when she reached it. there was a moment of panic when she saw nobody in the bed, but that was halted by a soft snore from the floor. Looking down, Nya spotted quite the odd sight.

Both Ninja were both fast asleep on the floor, with Rose resting her head on Lloyd's chest as he curled an arm around her shoulders. They both looked quite peaceful, although Nya was sure that when they woke up they'd have some pretty bad neck pain.

Still half in shock, Nya fished her phone out of her pocket and took several pictures. One for her, one for each of Lloyd's parents, and one for Hailey, the girl that sometimes called Rose to talk. She then gently closed the door and sneaked back out of the hall. She'd think up something to tell Wu and Garmadon later, for right now, she would let the two of them sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days passed without much of interest happening. Rose and Lloyd returned to their schedules, and the others enjoyed the pictures secretly taken by Nya. In fact, nothing out of the ordinary happened at all, until one day when Rose went to retrieve the mail one morning.

Getting the mail really wasn't quite so difficult as one would think, living in the most advanced building in the world. It was all sorted automatically, and then sent through pneumatic tubes to the proper floors. All one had to do then was go to the retrieval area on the floor to collect it. It was really quite simple.

And yet Rose hated it every time it was her turn to go get it. Despite that, she resisted the urge to complain about it. For one, that would just get her more exercises. For another, she knew it really wasn't that big a deal. Just take two steps down the hall and get it. She would look like a child if she whined about that.

She still hated it, though.

Today however, when she pulled the envelopes from the metal box, she noticed something right on top. Two small envelopes, with simple but intricate decorations lining them, were on the very top of the pile. On one was her name in elegant lettering, while the other one had Lloyd's on it. The return address on both showed it was from Chen's Noodle House.

"Oh boy!" She shouted as she burst into the dining room. She slammed down the rest of the mail onto the table, startling the others and spilling Garmadon's tea. "We've got coupons!"

It was one of her favorite perks, the free and cheap stuff that came with being a Ninja. Even if she hadn't actually done anything to save Ninjago yet, by association she got some cool shit too.

She ripped opened the envelope addressed to her as Garmadon cleaned up his spilled tea and Misako went to get him a new cup.

"We're going to be eating... like... Hmmm." She trailed off as she read the letter, face looking thoughtful. Then, without warning, she snatched the letter for Lloyd back up and started out of the kitchen.

"Is something wrong?" Garmadon asked as he took his new cup of tea from his wife.

"Nope! Hey, is Lloyd still in his room?" Rose asked. Garmadon opened his mouth to answer, but she ignored that and kept talking as she left the room. "Cool, thanks! Bye!"

Rose bounded down the hall until she came to Lloyd's room. Not pausing to knock or even call out, she slammed the door open and shouted. "Lloyd! Guess what!"

"I wasn't sleeping!" The blond shouted in return as he jolted by his desk. His hair was messed up, and the imprint of a pen could be seen on his cheek.

After a brief moment of staring at each other, Rose held the letter out to Lloyd. "Look what we got in the mail today~" She sang as he grabbed and opened it.

He read through it once, twice, and then a third time. The he threw put the letter on his desk and went back to what he'd been doing. "So what? We don't have time for that." He mumbled, searching for the report he'd been writing.

"What do you mean, 'so what'?! It's the perfect change to get out, stretch our powers, and have some fun!"

"I don't know, Rose. It doesn't really seem like a good idea." He pulled the report out and laid it on top of the other papers on his desk. "Besides, there's still a lot to do around here, and you haven't finished your training yet."

"Come on, it'll be fun! We've been cooped up in here all week, anyways. We need to get out for a while." She gave him a pleading look even though he wasn't looking at her. He sighed.

"But, what if the guys are going to be there?" He asked quietly. "I don't really want to see them right now."

"Lloyd." Rose began as she grabbed his shoulders. "I absolutely, positively, guarantee you that there will be other people, aside from them to talk to. And who's to say that they'll even be there anyway? They want nothing to do with any of this, right?"

"How can you be sure?" He asked, wary.

"Dude, just trust me. I have never been wrong about this sort of thing." Rose said as she turned to leave the room. "Now get packed. We have a tournament to enter!

* * *

"You said they wouldn't be here!" Lloyd loudly hissed as he watched the three colorful figures at the other side of the dock. So far they hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet, but he kept his hood up just in case. He was relieved that he'd chosen to wear a black hoodie rather than his usual green one, as it made him a lot harder to recognize.

"Shut up Lloyd." Rose replied, pulling her own hood up and looking out over the water. ' _I thought for so that they would've left by now. When did the other two even get here?!_ '

"'Trust me, I'm never wrong.' Oh, but you were. You were totally wrong!" Lloyd mocked, now glaring at her. To say he was unhappy would've been a huge understatement, as he hadn't been this pissed off for a long time.

"Shut up Lloyd!" Rose almost shouted. She turned to give him a piece of her mind but stopped when something caught her eye. "Yikes." She muttered as she felt the blood drain from her face.

"What? What is it?" Lloyd asked, turning to see what she saw. He immediately turned back around and adjusted his hood. "Uh oh."

"'Uh oh' is right, Lloyd." Garmadon stood almost directly behind him, and he could feel his father's glare on his back. There was no getting out of this.

"Heh heh, Dad! What, what are you doing here?" Lloyd asked, trying his best to feign surprise.

' _We're doomed._ ' Thought Rose.

"That's a question I should be asking you. Why did you accept Chen's invitation?" Garmadon was scary when he was mad, even without the blackened skin, four arms, and glaring red eyes. Still, Lloyd was going to try and lie.

"Who's Chen?" He asked innocently. Behind him, Rose face-palmed.

"Lloyd." Yeah, they were both screwed from here to Ignacia village. That was the Mom Voice. The one that said 'do what I say or get your ass beat'.

"It seemed like fun!" Rose cut in. "Besides, what's the harm in getting to know the other Masters? Hailey always told me to make more friends." She grinned nervously while Garmadon gave her an unimpressed look.

"You can talk to them without joining this tournament". He sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. "Look, I know it seems exciting, but this is dangerous. You two need to come with me back to the tower. Now."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. "Look, it was my idea we come here. Lloyd was upset about the others, and I thought this would help keep his mind off of things. Although that kind of backfired." She glanced towards the ex-Ninja, who somehow still hadn't noticed them.

Garmadon opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by the somehow sleazy yet well dressed man standing by the boat.

"Everyone who's entering the tournament, please board now." He told them. Everyone lined up to board, while Lloyd and Rose tried to sneak away from Garmadon. That plan failed when he lined up right behind them anyways.

The line moved smoothly, until it reached Lloyd and Rose. When they tried to board, the sleazy man stepped in front of them, blocking the way.

"I'm sorry," The man told them while not sounding sorry in the slightest, "but _he_ wasn't invited."

Rose glanced back at Garmadon, trying to decide if they should ditch him, when Lloyd spoke up. "He's with us. Either we all go on that boat, or none of us do."

There was a brief glaring contest between the two of them. Finally though, the man bowed his head slightly in defeat and stepped aside, waving them through the gate.

"Well that was odd." Rose said when they were on the boat. She leaned against the railing and stared up at the sky.

"Not entirely." Garmadon told her as Lloyd mimicked her position. "Clouse and I have a... history together."

"What sort of history?" Lloyd asked. He really didn't know much about his father, so he took any chance to get information. He was blocked by this, however, by Rose suddenly running past them.

"Hailey!" Rose yelled as she threw herself at her friend. The dark haired girl caught her with an 'oof', "Why are you here? I didn't think you'd be interested in something like this."

"Well, summer's been pretty boring..." She replied as the other two came up. "Also you know how my grandfather is. I needed a break from him and his... politics."

"Hailey? You're an Elemental Master too!?" Lloyd asked, sounding almost offended. "How come you never told us? And what's your power?"

"I don't know you, and that's a secret." Hailey dead-panned as she extracted herself from Rose's hug. "It's not something you needed to know, so I didn't tell you."

"Oh."Lloyd said, disappointment clear on his face. He turned to Rose. "What's her power?"

However before Rose could answer, or Hailey could tell her to be quiet, Kai went flying between them with a yell. They all stopped and turned to stare at him as he lay sprawled on the deck.

" Oopsy." They all turned to where Kai had come from, only to see a giant standing there. "Guess Karlof not smart."

As they watched, Kai leapt back up and charged Karlof, launching a fireball as he did so. The larger man simply blocked each one with the huge gauntlets he wore.

"Should, uh, should we do something?" Rose asked Kai dodged the punches Karlof threw at him. On the other side of the fight she could see Cole and Jay yelling something, though she couldn't hear what it was.

"No, let him deal with it." Lloyd said as he walked away. He wasn't their leader any more, so he wasn't going to deal with it.

"Lloyd is right. Kai needs to put a stop to this on his own." Garmadon said as Lloyd moped by the side of the ship.

"You think he's gonna kill him?" Hailey whisper-asked Rose, as the large, and now completely metal, man finally managed to pinned Kai down.

"I hope not. I hate him as much as anyone else, but he doesn't deserved death." Rose whisper-replied. ' _I wonder if I'm going to have to put them on ice. Oh god, CAN I even put them on ice?! Will my powers even work in front of everyone. Oh shit._ '

"Enough!" Luckily for Rose, though, Clouse had noticed the fight, and stormed over angrily. "Stop acting like violent buffoons and save it for the tournament." He told them, some how managing to stare down at the two despite being shorter than both of them.

Karlof simply shrugged and got off of Kai, turning and walking away without a word. As Rose watched, a woman in orange approached the Red Ninja and helped him up. She rolled her eyes and turned away, walking back over to Lloyd as Clouse announced their arrival. Immediately she became excited again.

"Oh boy, this going to be so much fun!" Rose said as they pulled into the dock. She was bouncing slightly on her toes, and Hailey had to reach out and grab her to keep her still.

"Yes, but I want you all to keep an eye out, I have a very bad feeling about this." Garmadon said, narrowing his eyes at the island. He'd sworn to never return, but now he had to in order to keep his son safe. He only hoped that he was wrong, and it really was just a tournament.

"Pfft, nothing's going to happen! Trust me, I'm never wrong about these things." Rose said, brushing him off. She had complete faith in herself. The others did not.

"Trust you, huh?" Hailey and Lloyd asked in unison.

"What about the illegal fighting game tournament you organized in high-school?" Hailey asked as she walked past her and down the ramp.

"Or what you said about the Ninja not showing up?" Lloyd said as he too walked past.

"Shut up!" She yelled, chasing after them. Garmadon chuckled, following them at a more sedate pace.


	8. Chapter 8

As they were led to a small palace, Rose took the opportunity to observe her surroundings. Mostly there was things you'd see outside any palace, though Rose didn't realize that. Beyond it, though, she could see a dense jungle.

They entered the palace and were led to a room with a large, round table in it. At the back of the room, on a raised dais, was a throne next to a gong. The gong had an odd symbol of a snake on it. With nothing else to do, all the Masters sat around the table.

Watching the other Master's, Rose suddenly realized how many there actually were. She had been aware, of course, that there were several of them, as Hailey had explained it to her once. But sitting in the same room as them, seeing them as living, real people, made it seem much less like a story, and more like reality to her.

It was frightening, but also exciting at the same time. Because she was going to be fighting these people, who had probably been training and honing their powers as long as Hailey had. But on the other hand, Rose felt far too proud to be able to join their ranks. She had always liked being included, and now she was finally able to join her friend in the only thing she'd never been able to before.

She only hoped that her powers didn't crap out on her again.

Rose was so absorbed in her anxiety, however, that she barely noticed when Chen came out, or the rules of the tournament. She was only brought out of it when Hailey nudged her side. Rose looked around, noticing several women with painted faces and elaborate robes had entered the room.

"Were you even paying attention?" Hailey whispered as the women approached them. Two came up to them and bowed, but Rose ignored them.

"Of course I was! Grab knife, win match. Easy." Rose replied as the Kabuki grabbed their arms. "Hey!"

"Then you know that they're taking us to our rooms now, right?" Lloyd said as he and Hailey were also grabbed. Rose looked around and noticed the other Masters being led away by the Kabuki.

Rose was led(dragged) up a set of stairs and down a hall to a large door. On it was the Traditional word for 'ice', which Rose only recognized because Hailey had shown it to her once. Looking around, she saw a few other Masters in front of doors like hers.

"Your room, Master of Ice." The Kabuki said in soft voice. She opened the door and bowed as Rose entered the room. It was a rather large room, and was decorated up to look like a glacial cavern. There were large stalactites and stalagmites and everything had a snowflake pattern. The floor was rather slick as Rose made her way over to one and tapped it. ' _Ah, so it's just glass then..._ '

She turned towards the bed, noticing that it was also made out of glass, but was covered in the furs of several Northern animals. Which was probably a good thing, since the room itself was freezing cold. ' _Fitting for an Ice Master, I suppose._ '

As she examined one of the many reflective surfaces throughout the room, a hidden intercom buzzed on. A short tune played, and then Chen's voice came through.

"Fellow fighters, hidden around my island are enough Jadeblades for every participant except for one. The one who returns to the palace arena empty-handed loses. The tournament begins...now! "

"What! We're doing this now?!" Rose had thought that there would be more time to prepare. With little warning the door to her room suddenly blew open, revealing the Master of Shadow. Rose got into a fighting position as he approached, determined not to lose in the first match.

"May the best fighter win." Chen laughed as the intercom finally went quiet.

* * *

' _Okay, maybe this isn't as fun as I thought it'd be._ ' Rose thought to herself as she laid across the top of a chandelier. Below her there was a brawl involving the Masters of Light, Shadow, Nature, and Sound as they all fought over a Jadeblade Sound had grabbed.

Rose had her own Blade, which she held close to her body as she clung to the chain keeping the chandelier up. She wasn't quite sure who had thrown her up there, but she was thankful for it, no matter how annoying it was. So far, none of the idiots below her had thought to look up yet.

As she watched the fight, waiting for an opportunity to escape, there was a sudden blast that opened the doors with a loud bang. The force blew into the room and knocked everyone into the walls. As they strained against it, Hailey walked calmly into the room and picked up the fallen Jadeblade. She turned it over in her hands, ignoring the other contestants as she examined it.

Hailey turned to leave, but paused at the doorway. "Rose, c'mon down! We're leaving now!" Rose winced, but quickly jumped down from her hiding spot, landing with a roll. She left the room with Hailey, closing the doors behind them so that they wouldn't be followed.

Without ceremony, they entered the first room and went up to a large display stand that already held a few Blades. They stuck their own Blades into it, and then went to sit next to Lloyd and Garmadon.

Looking around, Rose noticed that both the Black and Blue Ninjas had also managed to get Blades. They were standing in a corner, talking quietly but gesturing wildly. Rose watched them for a few minutes before turning back to her own group.

One by one, the other Masters entered the room with their own Jadeblades and put them into the display. They then found a place around the table to sit. As Clouse called out how many Blades were left.

The entire time, Chen sat up on his throne, watching it all with a too-wide smile that made Rose uncomfortable. This continued until all but one Blade had been recovered. Then, Chen began to get impatient. Finally he turned on the intercom again.

"Get on with it!" He yelled. He turned it back off as Clouse approached him. As they talked, the door to the room suddenly banged open. Everyone turned to look, only to see Karlof standing there, holding the last Jadeblade high above his head.

"Hahaha! Karlof wins!" He declared as several of the Masters cheered. A second later, his metal hand fell off his arm, still holding the Jadeblade. "What?"

Kai ran out from behind the larger man, snatching up the Blade. "Haha! Looks like you've got a screw loose!" He leaped up onto the dais and slammed the Blade into the final slot. More people cheered as he walked over to join the other two Ninja, though Garmadon looked disappointed.

"We have a loser!" Chen declared as the cheers died down. He gave a low chuckle as Karlof reattached his hand.

"That's not fair! He cheated!" The Master of Metal yelled, glaring at the Ninja. If it wasn't for all the other Master in the room, Rose was sure he'd have torn his head off right there.

"That doesn't matter. Fire won, you lose!" Chen told him gleefully. Karlof huffed in reply, crossing his arms angrily.

"Fine, I lose. Karlof never wanted to be on stinking island." He said as he turned to leave. He was stopped when the door suddenly closed.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear you did not enjoy your stay." Chen said, hand on the arm of his chair. "I guess this worked out for the best. This is goodbye!" He hit something on the other am and a trapdoor opened up under Karlof. With barely time to scream, he fell into the deep, dark hole below him. Everyone stared in silence as the door closed and Chen started speaking again.

"As you can see, lose and you are out. Break any rule, you are out. Never bite the hand that feeds you Master Chen delicious noodle! Now rest up. Tomorrow the tournament will recommence!"

Everyone fled the room, making sure not to avoid where Karlof had fallen through the trapdoor. Rose followed Hailey out, not wanting to be left alone. This place was obviously crazy, and she didn't want to be here for even one more second.

Together they entered a sort of cafeteria type place, where people were lining up to get their food. Over in one corner Rose could see the Ninja sitting at one table. As she watched, the Master of Light went over to them and talked to them. He turned invisible for a moment, then became visible again and began to walk away. He seemed pretty dejected, if his body language was any indication.

Seeing this, Rose was reminded of her days back in high-school, before she had become known as That Girl. It was with that memory that she altered her course to intercept him.

"Hey!" She called as she got close. He stopped and looked over at her as she approached. "If you're looking for a place to sit, why not sit at my table? We've got plenty of space."

The invisible man looked at her, at least, she assumed he did. It was kind of hard to tell what with him being invisible and all. Still, she tried to keep her face looking open and inviting. Finally, after a moment of internal debate, he nodded.

"Alright." He told her. "Lead the way."

Rose quickly led him to the table she had seen Hailey go to. Also sitting there was Garmadon and Lloyd, though Hailey didn't look too happy about that.

"Hey guys!" Rose said as they approached. "Hope you don't mind, but I brought a guest." She gestured to her new companion with a flourish, while he simply gave an awkward wave. They sat down next to each other as Garmadon and Hailey nodded in acknowledgment.

"Not at all." Lloyd said, not really looking at them. Rose turned to see the Ninja were visible from the table they were at. She turned back quickly, not wanting to bring attention to it. Instead she focused on her food which, she realized, was all from the menu at Chen's Noodle House.

' _There goes my diet._ ' She thought to herself even as she ate the food. At least it tasted good.

"Hey! You're the Green Ninja!" The man suddenly exclaimed, making everyone jump and Hailey choke on her food. Lloyd turned to look at him in shock.

"Oh! Um, yeah..." He said slowly. He'd honestly thought that everyone had already known, what with how famous he was around Ninjago. Maybe he it was because he wasn't wearing green...?

"I am a huge fan of yours!" He continued, reaching out a hand. Lloyd quickly gave it a firm shake as he rambled on. "Seriously, the way you took down that one dragon guy in the city awhile back, oh man that was awesome!" He finally let go and settled back in his seat.

"Oh, um, thanks Mister, uh?" Well that was embarrassing. The again, nobody had really told anyone else their names when they were on the boat.

"Oh, people call me The Paleman." He told him. "Or Mr. Pale if you're being formal." He took a bite of bread, and everyone decided that was the end of the conversation as they started to eat their own food.

* * *

That night, long after supper, Rose sneaked into Hailey's room. Or rather, she knocked on the door to the balcony and Hailey let her in.

"I know you have your own room here. Why not just sleep there?" She asked as she closed and locked the door. It probably wouldn't do much to actually keep anyone out, but it would at least stall them for a second and sometimes that was all you needed.

"Because it's freezing in there! And also, you've got a cooler room than I do." Rose said, looking around. It was true, too. Hailey's room was done up in black and dark green, with various finery hung from the walls. The bed was four poster one with silk sheets, and had actual bed curtains hanging from it. There was a tea table, too, with a fancy looking tea set on it. And best of all, it was actually warm in here.

All in all, in Rose's opinion, it was much better than her own room.

"Stop whining." Hailey told her, going to pour some tea. "I know the cold doesn't bother you that much anymore. You just wanted to be in the fancy room." Rose shrugged as she examined one of the tapestries.

"So what? You can't blame me for that, this room is awesome!" She grinned and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "Seriously though, can I sleep here for, like, the whole time we're here?"

Hailey just sighed as she finished setting up the tea. "No, Rose, you can't, I like my privacy!" She turned around, hands on her hips. "Now come over here and drink your... Rose?" She looked around the room, not that there was any real place to hide, and sighed again. "Where'd you go now?"

There was a loud bang from the wall and Hailey jumped. "HAILEY I'M TRAPPED IN THE WALL GET ME OUT OF HERE!" More banging followed until Hailey managed to locate where it was coming from. She gave the wall a strong kick and it spun around, spitting Rose onto the ground in front of it. She stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, the gave a wide grin and jumped up off the floor.

"HAILEY THERE'S A SECRET PASSAGE WAY WE GOTTA GO CHECK IT OUT!" She dashed towards the wall again, but Hailey held her back.

"Okay, first of all, how much caffeine have you had today? Second, let me get something so we can find our way back easily. I don't want to get lost in the wall." Rose nodded eagerly, so Hailey went over to where her bag was and pulled out a large, green marker. She then she came back over to where Rose was standing, and the two of them leaned against the wall. It spun around and deposited the two of them onto the floor.

Rose immediately was up and running through the passage. Hailey followed, but on after making a quick X on the portion of the wall they'd come through.

As they traveled through the hidden hallways, Hailey would draw arrows on the walls, pointing back to the way they came from. As they walk they also take note of other hidden doors. "This must be a servants' passage." Hailey explained as they walked. "You're not supposed to see them, so they built hidden passageways into all the old palaces. That way the servants could do their work without being seen."

Rose just nodded, not really interested. She just wanted to see what would be at the end of the tunnel. ' _I hope it's treasure._ ' She thought as Hailey rambled on about the history of palace making. She was just thinking about what she would spend all the treasure on(unlimited fries from WacDaniel's), when a loud thump from the other side of the wall caught their attention.

"Shit! Cole!" That was Kai's voice, Rose realized. Somehow, they must've wandered over to his room. "You know better than to punch people like that!"

"It's not my fault! You heard what he said!" Just under the yelling Rose was able to make out what sounded like muffled sobbing. "Shit, Jay. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

There was a huff. "Just go stand over there while I take care of this. Jay, come on. I saw a first aid kit in the bathroom." There was the sound of fading footsteps, and then nothing else. Hailey and Rose exchanged a look, and then moved on.

As they walked further and further down, they noticed the tunnel starting to look less like a hidden passageway, and more like a cave. Still they continued, with Rose getting her hopes up for buried treasure, when Hailey suddenly stopped her.

"Do you hear that?" She whispered. Rose listened carefully, then her eyes widened in surprise.

"Is that... is that chanting?" Rose was just as quiet with her question. "Who the hell is chanting down here?"

"I don't know, but we better go find out." Hailey crouched down and continued to sneak forward. Rose did the same, relying on the skills Lloyd had taught her before.

As they approached the end of the tunnel, they realized it opened up into a large chamber. Their particular hole was up high, but Rose could see several others lower to the ground. From their vantage point, she could see a mass of the guys she'd been seeing all over the palace, as well as Chen sitting on an elaborate throne. In his hand was a fancy staff, topped with some sort of large gemstone. However she was too far to make out the details, or even fully hear what was being said.

As they watched, two of the dragged Karlof out of one of the lower tunnels. They brought him up to the throne and presented him to Chen, who raised his staff. A beam of light shot out to hit the Master of Metal, then sucked back into the staff. And, though she wasn't entirely sure, Rose thought she saw something else go into the staff as well.

Hailey nudged Rose when the room started to empty out. She jerked her head back the way they came, and Rose nodded. With great care to keep quiet they started on their way back to Hailey's room.

They had a lot to tell Lloyd and Sensei Garmadon tomorrow.


	9. Chapter 9

At breakfast the next morning, Hailey and Rose told Garmadon and Lloyd about what they'd seen. As they explained, Garmadon's face grew more and more worried.

"This isn't good." Garmadon said once they'd finished. He shook his head slowly, staring into his teacup. "I don't know what he's planning, but knowing Chen, it's nothing good."

"This might be why they were so willing to let you on the boat." Lloyd realized. "There was no way they were going to risk Rose and I leaving when they needed our Elements"

"I think we should go hide out in Ignacia until this whole thing blows over." Rose said suddenly, pushing her food aside to lean in close to the other three at her table. "That way they won't be able to get our powers."

"That's not what Ninja do, Rose." Lloyd retorted. "We need to stay here and put a stop to this."

"Besides, how would you even get off this island?" Hailey interjected when Rose went to speak again. "There's no way they'd let you on one of the boats."

"Fine." She leaned back in her seat with a huff, crossing her arms. "But I don't see you guys coming up with any better ideas."

Lloyd looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned toward his dad.

"What do you think we should do?" He asked. Garmadon considered for a long moment.

"Make allies." He finally said, sipping his tea. "Whatever Chen is up to, it's going to be bad. So we'll need as many allies as we can get to fight against him."

Lloyd and Rose both nodded and quickly left the table to talk to the other Masters. At the same time, Garmadon took that as his cue to go get more tea, leaving Hailey by herself.

' _How the hell did I get roped into this?_ ' She asked herself with a sigh as she watched Rose make several false starts towards the other Ninja. ' _It's just like high-school all over again._ '

As Rose finally seemed to make a decision, Hailey sensed the air move beside her as someone sat down. Glancing around, she saw nobody, which led her to the obvious conclusion.

"Good morning, Mr. Pale." She greeted, hiding a grin when her new table mate jumped into visibility.

"Aw man! How'd you know it was me?" He asked, pulling Rose's plate over to him. Hailey watched with mild disgust as he started in on the half-eaten meal.

"You're the only one here who can turn invisible." She stated. "And my Element makes it fairly easy to find those who are invisible."

"Well damn." Paleman said, mouth half-full. Hailey just shrugged, not sure how to respond to that. So she went back to her own food and the two of them ate in silence for a while. Finally, as Paleman finished Lloyd's food, Hailey spoke up.

"I'm not sure if you've realized yet," she started, keeping her voice low, "but we aren't here just to fight for Master Chen's amusement."

Paleman swallowed and turned towards her. "We're not?" He asked worriedly. Hailey shook her head.

"Last night, while Rose and I were 'exploring', we came across this hidden throne room. While we were there, we saw Chen take Karlof's Element with some sort of staff."

"You're joking." He whispered. "Please, tell me you're joking." Hailey shook her head again, and he let his head fall into his hands. "And there's no way off this island, is there?"

"No, there's not." She leaned in closer, keeping an eye out in case any of the workers got suspicious. "The others are already looking to gather allies. If we act fast, we may be able to take Chen down before he gets too far into his plan."

Paleman considered for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I'm in. Just tell me when the meeting is."

Hailey nodded back and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a shout.

"Hailey! Look at this!" Hailey sighed and turned, then blinked and rubbed at her eyes when she saw _two_ Roses standing in front of her. The one on the left was standing with a hand her hip with an almost smug air around her. The one on the right was almost jumping up and down with glee.

"Look! Look look look! She looks just like me! Isn't that amazing?" Rose bounced in place as the copy turned to look at her, lips quirked in amusement.

"Uh, yeah, wow." Paleman muttered, thoroughly confused. Hailey just face-palmed, feeling her stomach drop in dread.

' _We're doomed._ '

While Hailey attempted to avoid eye-contact in an effort to maintain her dignity, and Paleman sneaked off, the intercom sounded across the cafeteria.

"The tournament of Elements continues. Fun time!" Chen's voice rang out. Camilla changed back to her normal form as everyone turned towards the speakers. "Would the following Masters please make their way to their assigned arena? Speed, Gravity, Smoke, Nature, Mind, oh, and last and hopefully not least..."

"Please don't be me. Please don't be me!" Rose whispered, hands clasped in front of her. Hailey just gave her a look.

"... Fire!" There was a loud gasp from across the room, and Hailey turned to see the Master of Fire glaring at the speaker. "Remember, only one can remain."

* * *

The first match was Griffin Turner and Gravis, Speed versus Gravity. But it was far from an interesting fight, at least according to Rose. Gravis was, from what she could tell, limited to only controlling the gravity on one or two things at a time. Thus when he focused on the Jadeblade, he just made it a target for Turner instead.

It probably didn't help that Turner moved faster than Gravis. Rose almost felt pity for him, especially since she knew what would happen to him that night.

The fight between Neuro and Bolobo, Mind and Nature, was far more fun to watch, despite being far shorter than the last match. There was definitely more action, but it didn't last nearly as long as Rose hoped it would. Neuro managed to grab the Jadeblade, and Bolobo fell through the resulting trap door.

Two spaces over, and three rows down, sat the Black and Blue ex-Ninja. Rose knew that Kai had a match today, Chen had only announced it to the whole island after all. But she also knew that him, and the other two, had no idea what would be waiting for them if any of them lost.

When the current match ended everyone filed out to the third arena, where the final match of the day was going to take place. Kai and Ash, Fire versus Smoke. Rose just knew that this one was going to be great.

And she was right. Ash had the ability to turn into smoke, it seemed. Which meant every time Kai went to attack him, he would instead go right through him. Rose found this hilarious, for obvious reasons.

One look to her left though, where Lloyd was sitting with a look of intense worry on his, killed her laughter before it could start. Not for the first time, Rose felt sorry for her teammate/teacher. It had to be tough, knowing you and your best friend weren't on the same side.

Still, it was a fun fight to watch. And Rose did cheer along with Lloyd when Kai got the Jadeblade, despite not actually liking the Fire Master. However when it ended, and everyone was filing into the cafeteria for lunch, Rose made a decision.

"I have to go... do something." She told the others in the group as she broke away from them. "I'll meet up with you guys later, okay?" She left as she spoke, not giving them a chance to protest, or offer to go with her.

She weaved through the crowd until she reached a doorway, which she quickly darted into. From there she watched as people went passed her, until she spotted the Masters of Earth and Lightning head into the room across the hall from her.

' _Perfect._ ' She thought as she made her way over. ' _I really don't want to deal with Kai again if I can help it._ ' She entered the room, closing the door gently behind her. No reason to have anyone eavesdrop, after all.

After making sure the door was closed(and _not_ locked), she approached the two ex-Ninja. Silently, she walked up behind them and placed a hand on Jay's shoulder-

-only to startle him so badly that he turned around with a spinning high-kick. Rose dropped to the floor with practiced ease, narrowly avoiding being kicked in the face.

For a long moment, nobody moved. Rose was kneeling on the floor while Jay kept his leg extended above her, a look of intense determination on his face. Cole himself had gotten into a fighting stance at the movement, though for the moment he just looked mildly confused. Then, Jay put his leg down and backed up a few steps, letting Rose stand up to her full(if rather short) height.

"Um, hi." She said, giving a small wave. I'm Rose, the, uh, the new Master of Ice."

They glared at her in return, though only Cole's had any real force behind it. Half of Jay's face was taken up by a pretty bad looking bruise, Rose noticed.

' _It's probably from last night._ ' She realized. ' _Oh crap, I hope I don't have to fight Cole any time soon._ '

"I've, uh, come to warn you guys about something." She continued after it became clear that they weren't going to answer her. "There's something really bad going on in the basement. Like, really bad. Power-stealing bad."

"And why do you think we care?" Jay asked, crossing his arms. Rose kept back a frustrated sigh, knowing it wouldn't help her case.

"Well, I would like to know if my powers were in danger like that." She told him, trying to keep her voice sincere. "So I thought a heads up might be nice."

"Well you know what I think?" Rose tilted her head, confused, and opened her mouth to answer, though she was cut off. "I think this is a set-up! You're trying to throw us off of our game somehow!" As he said this he got up in her face, making Rose lean back.

"Jay!" Cole grabbed the other by the shoulder and tugged him away from Rose. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Why would she even try to do that?"

"I don't know! Maybe she's working with Chen!"

"She came here with Lloyd! You saw her get on the boat with him!"

"Well how do we know that's not a set-up too, huh?"

Rose watched as the back and forth started to become more heated. When Jay reached out to shove Cole, she turned around and quickly left the room, hurrying to the cafeteria. Whatever was going on between the two of them, she wanted no part of it.

' _At least I tried to warn them. Hopefully they're tell Kai._ '

She entered the cafeteria and got a tray of food, then quickly located the rest of her team. She sat down and began to eat.

"Did you get your thing done?" Hailey asked. Rose nodded, swallowing as she did so.

"Yep, got it done. Not sure if anything will come of it, but it's done." She then quickly shoved more noodles into her mouth, hoping to prevent any other conversation.

* * *

After lunch, everyone made their way back to the main room, where they were greeted with the sight of Cole and Jay arguing. Again.

' _Jeez, how often does this happen? Have they ever been able to work together?_ ' Rose edged behind Lloyd and Garmadon, trying to hide from their sight. She wasn't sure why they were arguing, but she didn't want to be blamed for it.

"I'm going to die!" Jay yelled, pointing at the match brackets. "I can't fight Cole, he has super strength! How can I beat super strength?!"

"You can't, that's the point." Cole told him, crossing his arms. "And quit panicking! It's not that bad."

"Yes it is!" Jay screamed back, moving to tackle the Black Ninja. Luckily, Kai was next to them and was able to grab him quickly. That didn't stop them from continuing the argument, however, and Kai soon had to move from just holding back Jay, to also blocking Cole from getting any closer.

Lloyd made a move as if to step in, then turned around and walked back out the door. Rose followed him quickly, not wanting to get caught up in the fight.

Once outside the room, Lloyd turned and punched the wall. He hit it three more times before stalking off down the hall that would lead to his room. Rose let him go, not sure what to do to help him.


End file.
